City to post more health inspection reports online
Summaries for facilities like salons and childcare centres will be shared to meet new standards
The public health department will soon post inspection summaries online for everything from pools to salons to childcare centres to meet new provincial transparency standards.
But in some cases officials are still “wrestling” with how much detail should be provided in public report summaries and even how quickly the information should be posted.
Right now, the city only posts a handful of health inspection results on its website, with the best-known example being restaurant inspections. Others include beach water quality, drinking water advisories and infection control “lapses” in settings like dental or medical clinics.
As of early January, convictions or summary findings related to inspections of a variety of businesses or public venues should start going online to meet new Ontario public health standards for reporting.
“We’re moving toward being more transparent,” said associate medical officer of health Dr. Ninh Tran, who noted the effort also dovetails with an “open data” promise to make the city’s trove of traditionally hidden public information more easily accessible.
“Ultimately, you’re going to see a lot more (online) postings of the various types of inspections that we do.”
Increasingly, there are more reports to post. Tran said complaints about infection control practices in various facilities increased from 64 to 86 between 2016 and 2017.
Midway through this year, 54 had been lodged. (Infection control inspections are only triggered by complaints.)
Right now, Tran said the city only posts reports that turn up “lapses,” or problems that, at least in theory, pose a risk of transmitting infection. But he predicted a learning curve for exactly how much information is posted going forward, and when.
For example, public summaries are supposed to be posted within two weeks of the relevant inspection or conviction.
The Spectator reached out to public health after noting the most recent infection control “lapse” report on a Stoney Creek dental practice was posted Nov. 21, or nearly two months after an inspection.
Tran said in this case back-andforth discussions with the dental office and its regulatory college delayed completion of the final report. He said he is “wrestling” with how soon to post preliminary inspection findings. “If someone (from the public) calls, do we have the answers to provide?”
Dr. Felice Rocci, who runs the Stoney Creek practice, praised the “thorough, methodical approach,” noting inspectors eventually determined one of their initial concerns was a “non-issue.”
The dentist said he was surprised by his first infection control inspection — “it was a bit traumatic” — but added in retrospect he is grateful to
get the “crash course” in meeting the latest standards.
Rocci emphasized his office “easily and immediately” adopted the recommended changes and that the practice “never stopped functioning as normal.”
But he suggested the posted summary did not make the relatively “minor” nature of the lapses clear to readers.
The report describes one concern as “the reuse of devices intended for single use.” In this case, Tran said that meant a syringe used to squirt water. He called the chance of spreading infection “extremely low” because the syringe did not touch the patients and was disinfected between uses.
Tran said the clinic quickly came into compliance and he did not deem it necessary to contact patients. He conceded the language of the summary “doesn’t necessarily capture that level of nuance.”
By comparison, a lapse report for Dr. Lorin Harding in 2017 referred to “reprocessing of medical equipment.” In that case, public health temporarily closed the office and issued a media release urging patients who had minor surgery at the clinic to get tested for hepatitis and HIV.
Tran said as more inspection summaries are posted, “I think we will look at whether we can be more explicit, or provide more context.”
The dentist said he was surprised by his first infection control inspection, but added in retrospect he is grateful to get the “crash course” in meeting the latest standards.